Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy

Amy     

family drama

A woman, barely alive, washes up on the shore of a harsh, remote, frozen island located between Tasmania and Antarctica . She is saved by the family who cares for the island—a bereaved widower and his three children—its sole inhabitants. They will be leaving the island in a couple months when a boat arrives to collect them. The team of scientists and lighthouse operators who used to live on the island are already long gone. The family is suspicious of this woman—why would she make the arduous journey? But they have secrets of their own.

This was a wonderfully atmospheric setting full of unusual situations, secrets, and danger. Wild Dark Shore had a gripping story and lovable characters. Peppered throughout were facts about plants, animals, environments, and handywork. The best part was the last quarter of the novel. But I enjoyed the whole ride.

It’s a story about grief, trauma, guilt, nature, remoteness, motherlessness, and survival. There were frequent flashbacks to give the reader everyone’s histories. I had forgotten the author’s name but I’d previously read and loved Charlotte McConaghy’s novel Migrations. She definitely has a thing for freezing environments and nature! Wild Dark Shore had a quicker pace than Migrations and, therefore, I liked it better. The mysteries and potential hazards kept my attention. I’ll certainly read more from McConaghy.

The audiobook was narrated by a several narrators. The main narrator, Saskia Maarleveld, was voicing Rowan, the woman who washed up on shore. She’s always terrific and this audiobook was no exception. She displayed a fabulous vocal repertoire and voice acting. She gets an A. Katherine Littrell voiced the two older kids’ sections—one male and one female. She did a fine job but I really wish the producers had gotten two different narrators here. Since they’d already gotten four narrators, why not just one more? Cooper Mortlock voiced the young son and I didn’t love the casting for this role. Why get an adult-sounding narrator to be the voice of the 9 year old? I mean, he was a good voice actor but I, again, felt that the producers didn’t go the extra mile to make this audiobook so much better than it was. Last but not least, my favorite voice in the world, Steve West narrated the dad’s sections. However, while he did a great job with this material, it took me a little while to get used to the Australian accent he used. Since that’s probably a “me” problem, I’m not going to complain too loudly, though. However, due to my complaints about some choices that were made in this audiobook, I’m only giving the ensemble a B+.

   

The Life of Chuck by Stephen King

Lynnie 

 

fantasy, audiobook

The Life of Chuck is an odd novella, but an interesting idea - I’m eager to see the movie now and see how the story is presented.

I really liked the idea of this story. Told in three acts in reverse, it takes a little while for the narrative to make sense and understand what Stephen King is weaving together, but it is well worth it to see how the story unfolds.

The Life of Chuck made me think of Stephen King meets Horton Hears a Who - there is a universe in all of us and, when we die, our universe dies too. That’s a big responsibility and inevitability, huh? There was a lot to think about when I finished reading this one.

I enjoyed the narration by Danny Burstein when I listened, though I probably spent more time reading than listening.

Broken Country by Clare Leslie Hall

Amy     

family drama

Broken Country is the story of a woman who loves two men with tragic results. After Beth and her first love ended their relationship, she fell into the arms of a steady, solid, kind school friend.  The book goes back and forth between the late 1960s and earlier “before” periods. This engrossing family drama becomes unputdownable toward the end.

The writing was done very well and the audiobook narrator made the English countryside town and its inhabitants very atmospheric. I looked forward to my time listening to this one. The enjoyment of this novel was in the way Clare Leslie Hall drew out the mysteries and built the characters so clearly. She added depth to the situations little by little. And then she threw in some surprises. This reader couldn’t help but care about everyone involved and desire to find out how things ended for all of them. I can’t say much about it without giving things away but it’s a book about family, passions, farming, acceptance, and sacrifice.

The audiobook was narrated by Hattie Morahan. She was a wonderful voice actor and had a decent vocal repertoire. I do believe she added to my enjoyment of this story and will give her a solid A.

Margo's Got Money Troubles

 Lynnie 

contemporary fiction, audiobook 

 

Margo's Got Money Troubles has been in my library queue for a while, but knowing that the tv show based on the book would be released soon, I decided to bump it up in my reading queue and take the plunge. I'm glad I did!

As many other reviews have stated, Rufi Thorpe delivers a wild ride for Margo, who is making her own way in the world, going to a junior college and waiting tables. Pregnant after an affair with her married English professor, Margo faces a new set of challenges as she navigates the challenges of being a young, unwed, unemployed mother. In the digital era though, there are ways a woman in Margo's situation can make money and Margo quickly turns to OnlyFans to support herself and her baby. As you can imagine, everyone around her has opinions about her OnlyFans work as Margo learns to take control of her own story and think about her future. 

I generally enjoyed Margo and the cast of characters in this book. I think that sensitive topics were handled realistically and thoughtfully, with humor and in a way that made topics and ideas relatable that might otherwise make some readers uncomfortable. 

I did not, however enjoy the audiobook, narrated by Elle Fanning. At. All. I think that's why I didn't rate this book higher in all honesty, because I listened to a good chunk of it while driving around. Fanning is a wonderful actress and I enjoy her movies, but she is a terrible audiobook narrator; she simply reads the book. It's often monotone and there's no differentiation of voices so it can be difficult to track who is speaking when there is dialogue. I mean, if you just want someone to read the book to you, she's great I guess, but I've been spoiled by so many great audiobooks lately.

Bottom line - I recommend Margo's Got Money Troubles. I also recommend avoiding the audiobook. 

I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy

Amy   


memoir

I’m Glad My Mom Died is written by Jennette McCurdy, the young actress who played Carly’s best friend, Sam, in the Nickelodeon show iCarly beginning in 2007. It’s about her life under the rule of her manipulative mother who exploited and abused her and it describes the struggle she’s experienced to move on. 

The subject matter of this book really didn’t appeal to me. I could barely remember this actress and figured it would be a sad story about a pushy mother living vicariously through her daughter. But a friend literally handed me her copy of the book and said it was great. So I felt I had to give it a try.

The writing was conversational and in present tense. I’m guessing she actually wrote this herself. The story was exactly what I thought it was going to be, only sadder than I imagined since so much about Jennette’s life was sad. Her family life was hostile, mostly because her mother was a selfish, moody hoarder, her father was useless and largely absent, and their family was dysfunctional. Jennette was raised to be a mommy-pleaser. She was cognizant enough to realize that her mother was sometimes ridiculous but was so desperate to keep her mother even-keeled that she’d do anything to keep life calm whenever possible. She learned early to not think about what she wanted but, rather, what Mommy wanted.

The more I read, the more her life was revealed to be a train wreck. It got really uncomfortable to read. It was tough reading about a girl being mentally abused and manipulated by her mother. And then, after her mother died, seeing how Jennette was unequipped to handle her own life situations due to the way her mother purposefully stunted her emotional intelligence was infuriating.  Thankfully, all the chapters in this novel are very short. So when I got tired of reading about the shit show that was her life, I could just close the book. All the details of bulimia were eye-opening and upsetting. 

I’m glad she finally got the help she so obviously needed. But I really did not enjoy this reading experience. I’m sure this book will help some people who need it, though.

Nothing to do with the contents of the novel, but the cover art is awful and this is coming from someone who doesn’t pay a ton of attention to covers. This cover looked like a 1980’s Harvard Graphics creation with non-complimentary colors of yellow and bright pink. McCurdy is unrecognizable in the photo as the actress from iCarly. I just don’t understand any of these choices. Plus the prime quote on the cover promised this novel would be funny. Um, not at all.

Run for the Hills by Kevin Wilson

Lynnie 

contemporary fiction 

This is the fifth book I've read from Kevin Wilson (Nothing to See Here was on my 2020 Favorites List!) and as I have come to expect, Run for the Hills delivers a unique and quirky look at family and relationships.

Revisiting Coalfield, Tennessee, the setting for Wilson's Now is Not the Time to Panic (I have learned to look for connections, large and small, between Wilson's novels), Madeline "Mad" Hill is devoted to the farm she runs with her mother after her father abandoned the family 20 years ago. One day, a man drives up and introduces himself as her half brother Reuben "Rube" Hill, and explains that years before Mad's father abandoned her, their father abandoned Rube and his mother. Not only that, there are other families, and children, who came after Mad and, in each family, their father was a completely different man. Rube persuades Mad to join him on a quest across the country to find their siblings and father.

Run for the Hills was a more meandering novel than most of the books I've read by Kevin Wilson. There isn't a lot of plot - the siblings drive, meet one another, repeat. But, where other books build worlds, Wilson spends time building a family; I found that fascinating! I loved seeing the Hill siblings discover, learn to accept and support one another during this journey. Were there times I felt emotionally manipulated? Sure. But overall, I still enjoyed the adventure.

I found that, like most of Wilson's novels, I didn't love the ending. But I was more satisfied by the ending of Run for the Hills than I usually am by his books, so I count that as a win.

Marin Ireland narrated the audiobook and I usually enjoy her narration quite a bit, but I didn't for this book and often found myself switching to the Kindle version instead. For many of the scenes, she used a really low tone and, when the characters were being serious, particularly the younger characters, she spoke so quietly that I truly could not hear or parse the words she was saying, even when I tried to rewind the audio multiple times. It was frustrating enough that I would stop the audiobook and just pick it up when I had time to read the Kindle so I wouldn't miss anything when that happened. I'm sure that was more of a production issue than a narrator issue, but I did find it annoying.

Run for the Hills is a fun read for fans of Kevin Wilson or people who enjoy a unique family adventure.  

Bug Hollow by Michelle Huneven

Amy    

family drama

Bug Hollow is a house in the woods where the oldest Samuelson child, Ellis, hid himself from his family for two months in the summer after his senior year of high school in the 1970s. From there, meaningful events take place which ripple into others’ lives.

This family drama is told from multiple points of view including some outside of the core family. The novel covers multiple decades but not chronologically. Some viewpoints cover periods prior to those already shared and some jump ahead quite a bit. One character, Sally, got three sections in her viewpoint. Everyone else only got one section, I believe. Near the end of the novel, one of Sally’s sections described events that really didn’t have anything to do with the Samuelsons. It was mostly a self-contained plot that didn’t have any meaningful overlap with any of the other sections. My only guess as to why Michelle Huneven included this section is that she wanted the reader to get a feel for the character, Mrs. Wright, so that we could understand her a little more before she played a pivotal role in the next revealed segment. Or maybe she just wanted to insert an LGBTQ+ story in her novel. Whatever the reason, that segment went on way too long and felt out of place. Otherwise, I thought Huneven did a good job crafting this tale.

I don’t have much more to say about this story but I enjoyed getting to know the characters. There was hardship in the pages of this novel but also joy and success. This is a story about family, loss, and new connections…..beginnings and endings. Life goes on. 

The audiobook narrator, Emily Rankin, had a terrific vocal repertoire and was a great voice actress. She gets an A for her performance.